As a result of the breakdown of law and order in Karachi, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, took suo moto notice of the pathetic situation faced by people living in the port city. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice, reserved the judgement after having hearing argument of all parties to the case. While the nation waits in suspense for the final judgment, an interim order has been passed directing Advocate General (AG) Sindh and Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs) of Police, heading various zones in Karachi, to inform the Supreme Court about the steps taken against the criminals on a daily basis. The court further ordered that the report should be submitted to Justice Anwar Zahir Jamali through its (the courts) Deputy Registrar. This may appear to be a measure of overseeing the performance of the Executive. However, it must be kept in mind that the Supreme Court of India has often had resource to such monitoring in the past and is, even today, to exercise its constitutional right in exceptional circumstances. According to media reports, Inspector General Police of Sindh Wajid Durrani confessed the distressing fact before the apex court that the law enforcement agencies had failed to control target killings and incidents of violence in Karachi, and that was specifically because 40 percent of appointments in police had been made on political grounds. That is why thousands of killers could not be traced - even in the cases of nearly 100 policemens murder, not a single murderer was arrested and punished. When a criminal is acquitted due to lack of evidence, indeed, the legal/judicial system is paralysed and people lose trust in it. However, it is in reality the failure of both the federal and provincial governments. Yet, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in his wisdom upheld the Constitution by remarking that failure of the government does not mean failure of the state. Never before, in Pakistan, has the judiciary faced a more complicated case, since the destiny of country today depends on a just, fair and meticulous verdict. Any error in the courts judgment or compromise to find a way out by applying the doctrine of necessity, may undo the dream of our Founder Father, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, for the establishment of a modern, democratic, progressive, Islamic, welfare state. The verdict will blaze a new trail in the right direction for the people, but the difficult journey towards the final goal has to be undertaken by collective will and resolve of political parties (because some have been detected by the court to have violated the Constitution), which must join hands and rise above petty domestic differences and personal egos for a better Pakistan. A two-party system can yet emerge, if the PPP and the PML-N repudiate their unnatural, covert alliances and unite for a common cause of democracy and establishment of the rule of law. For this, they need to get rid of the like-minded groups (Forward Bloc), which should either merge with the mainstream parties or contest the next elections as independent candidates. For example, there is nothing common between the PPP, ANP, and PML-Q. As far as the MQM is concerned, any party getting into an alliance with it must ensure that both have common political and economic views without provincial or ethnic bias. The entire nation must support the judiciary and its verdict, since adherence to the principles of democracy, good governance, rule of law and social justice hold the key to Pakistans destiny. The writer is President of the Pakistan National Forum. Email: ikramullahkhan1@yahoo.com